The other 9%

Everything is stacked against the small farm. 9% of the Nations farms control over 40% of food production. These are large farms, not small local, family owned, nor near a city center. Take a stroll through your local farmers market, many of those selling produce are selling items purchased at auction mixed with their own produce, despite many farmers markets forbidding that practice. Most are more than 50 miles from their farms. Prices are controlled by an unnatural market practice. This is why urban farming needs to be an essential element of cities. In Troy there have been officials, both past and present that say farming does not belong in the city, but that is just bull. Creation of internal markets to any urban environment will stimulate growth and income, both personally but municipally, through sales tax revenue, and even by allowing urban farmers to developing urban lots as a business to generate property tax income. Failure to think outside of the establishments predefined frame of what a city is, is a sure indication of continued failure of a municipality. Add to that with farms within the urban frame that means even fresher and more diverse and desirable produce, and micro-livestock is now available without the overhead of moving it hundreds of miles each weekend just to set up at the local farmers market only to be undersold by another farmer who mixes auction produce with their own grown produce at a lower cost. Read on for more on this and the effects this has on small scale farmers.

The Blue Review

Chin up and happy farming,

John

Urban food revival. Protecting what is already there.

On August 6th, 2015, Troy Urban Farming Initiative and members of the city wide community began their Urban Orchard Project.  Originally with the intent to take vacant city owned lots and convert them in to public space as a park and orchard in neighborhoods all across the city of Troy, NY.

While working on the logistics, mapping out the location of these often hidden lots located where roads and railroad tracks once ran, checking on suitability to planting fruit trees and if they will remain viable for the long range as well as what to plant, the group realized that through out the city there were stands of existing fruit trees that have been long neglected, some are even remnants from the heyday of victory gardens and self sufficiency that disappeared at the close of WWII, along with the city's industry.  Not to mention the number of abandoned properties that contained fruit trees, mostly apples, that were not owned by the city, yet.

John Cubit, founder of TUFI, commented that "These trees are all over the city.  You just need to get out there and look.  From the bike trail to the river and from North Troy to South Troy, even hidden in areas of Rensselaer Poly Tech campus and the Russell Sage campus there are fruit trees just waiting for people to enjoy the food they are providing."

That is when one volunteer, Francis Magia suggested tracking these sites on-line and sharing with the residents where to go and when to harvest.

Trees after being pruned

The group decided to go ahead and get started while working on the original concept and start revitalizing the current stands of fruit trees through out the city.  Their first stop was on 1st St. and Adams, a once mixed industrial and residential area that other than those living there is a barren site of brown fields, except this little corridor with several various species of apple trees.

A mix of large crab-apples, used for preserves and desserts, to large, very sweet apples that are still ripening.  All the trees but one were filled heavily with apples.  One was completely dead and the group removed that due to the infestation of worm and carpenter ants, but the wood was taken away for use in an art project, since the main trunk was mostly undamaged, other than from the worms that girdled the tree.

Peter demonstrating correct pruning methods

After a brief class on pruning and branch removal by Peter Tarantelli, referred to as Peter the Pruner, the group went at clearing the sidewalks of low hanging branches as well as the roadway.  They removed dead and diseased branches as well.  Though the amount of branches were small they knew that what they did will have a major impact on the health of the tree and its longevity.

John commented that now we need to let people know about these trees. "Come late September, October these are going to be great apples, and they are there for everyone to enjoy."

The group is scouting out another site not to far away for their next guerrilla pruning session as well as still working on a site location for the original concept of an urban orchard, food security is one of TUFI's top priorities, not to mention it helps make Troy a better place to live.

If interested in helping out with the orchard, tree pruning or interested in learning skills to become self-sufficient or developing a urban farm join up and follow Troy Urban Farming Initiative on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TroyUFI or email at TroyUFI@gmail.com.

Grow Garlic, grow it from those leftover cloves

Garlic is one of the easiest things you can grow.  For the most part plant it and forget it but there are some things that you may want to consider before you start planting.  As usual planning before hand prevents heartaches later.

Garlic has been cultivated for thousands of years. It is mentioned in ancient Greek, Indian and Chinese writings, while garlic bulbs were found in the Tomb of Tutankhamen when archaeologists first opened it in 1922. The bulbs were found to date from 1500 BC.

With such an illustrious history to tap into, permaculture gardeners may well want to make garlic a part of their plot design. In fact, if you cook with garlic – and it is increasingly found in kitchens everywhere – it is a good idea to grow your own. This is because the vast majority of garlic is imported, and usually treated with chemicals to preserve it during transportation.

Choose Variety
Garlic comes in two types: soft-neck and hard-neck. This classification refers to the relative stiffness of the stem just above the bulb. Generally, soft-neck species last longer in storage, while hard-neck varieties are hardier. Soft-necks prefer a milder climate than their hard-neck cousins, but with judicious use of micro-climates, permaculturists in most areas should be able to cultivate either or both. Purple-striped and Porcelain are popular choices of hard-neck species, while Artichoke garlic and Silver skins give good crops of soft-necks.

Prepare the Soil
Garlic prefers a well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter. Add compost – ideally one that is rich in manure – to the soil before planting your garlic, watering it well. The compost also helps keep the structure of the soil relatively loose, which helps garlic, as they do not have the strongest of root systems.

Garlic also like a slightly alkaline soil, so if your garden bed has a low pH, you might consider adding organic agricultural lime to raise it a little before planting.

Timing
Plant garlic in mid-fall. This will give you a harvest at the start of the following summer. The plant goes dormant during the winter, be reinvigorates with growth come springtime.

Planting
Because much garlic available in supermarkets and grocers has been treated with preservatives and pesticides, it is preferable to source your cloves from an organic nursery. This ensures you are not introducing any unwanted elements into your plot.

You plant individual cloves from a bulb. When breaking apart a bulb for cloves to plant, try to keep as much as possible of the papery covering of the clove intact, and some of the base plate of the bulb attached. Choose the biggest, plumpest cloves for planting; these will give you the strongest, biggest plants. Plant with the pointed end upwards, at a depth of around 3 inches. Plant individual cloves around 7 inches apart.

Some gardeners like to soak their cloves for a couple of hours prior to planting in a mixture of water, baking soda and seaweed fertilizer, believing this helps protect the cloves from fungal infection. However, on a permaculture plot, it is not really necessary.

Once you have had your first harvest, you can also replant cloves from your crop.

Consider Companions
Generally, garlic is one of the most beneficial of companion plants in the permaculture garden. Its
chemical makeup means it repels a large number of potential pests, not only insects such as aphids but also larger mammals such as moles, squirrels and deer. Its pungent scent seems to be a primary reason for this, and its strong taste puts animals off trying garlic a second time. But garlic also protects plants around it by accumulating sulfur in the soil. Sulfur is a naturally occurring fungicide, and its presence helps protect plants from soil diseases. Plants that particularly benefit from companion planting with garlic include fruit trees, cabbage, broccoli, kale, tomatoes, and cane fruits, such as blackberries and raspberries. Really the only plants to avoid planting in proximity to garlic are peas and beans, as it appears to have a detrimental effect on their growth.

Care
Mulching your garlic plants is a good idea, both to prevent weeds, which can out compete garlic roots for soil nutrients and water, to preserve soil moisture, and to provide a source of nutrients. Straw seems to be a particularly good choice for mulching garlic. This helps protect the plants during the colder winter months. Once the last frost of winter has passed, it is a good idea to add more compost to the soil around your garlic plants, as this will help promote plump bulb growth over the spring.

Garlic does not need watering until the spring, when the soil should be kept damp to the touch. Stop watering at the start of the summer when you see the leaves begin to turn yellow, as stopping watering will allow the bulbs to firm up.

At the start of summer, you will probably see your garlic plants develop flowering tops. Left alone these will curl over and then form into harder, spiny tendrils. There is no particular detriment to leaving these tendrils – called ‘scrapes’ – on the plant, but cutting them back can help promote stringer bulb growth. If cut them back before they begin to curl, the scrapes can be used in the kitchen, imparting a subtle garlic flavor to salads and soups. Scrapes are more commonly a feature of hard-neck varieties.

Harvest
While precise harvesting times will depend on your location and climate conditions, generally, garlic planted in mid-fall will be ready to grow garlic harvest in mid-summer. When most of the lower leaves have turned yellow-brown, it is time to harvest. You want the upper leaves to still be green; otherwise the bulbs will not form the papery wrappers that allow you to store them. The bulbs at this stage are still delicate so don’t pull them up. Instead, dig the root stock out carefully.

Store
Once harvest, take your garlic plants out of the sun and store in a shaded, dry place, preferably one that receives a draft. Tie bundles of 8-10 plants together, or use a mesh bag, and hang the garlic up for four to six weeks. This allows the bulbs to ‘cure’, developing the distinctive papery skins. Once formed, trim off the roots and the stalks to around 1 inch above the bulb. Store in a light, dry location (but not in direct sunlight); it should keep for between six and eight months.

Reprinted partially from www.openpermaculture.com

How to Build a Raised Garden Bed

By far not a definitive instruction set to build raised beds but hopefully it will tickle your imagination to start this weekend to build one.  Don't limit yourself and say just because you do not have room to garden that a raised bed won't work.  It can be 2x2, 3x3, or 3x20, you decided and be creative.

Raised garden beds are exactly what their name promises – they are beds in which you can plant

vegetables where the planting medium has been raised higher than the surrounding land. Raised beds have many benefits for the permaculture gardener. They prevent the soil becoming compacted, which in turn helps with water drainage and soil aeration. The containment of the soil by the raised bed also helps to prevent erosion by wind and rain, while the improved structure of the soil means that it is typically slightly warmer than the surrounding earth, meaning you can usually plant in raised beds earlier in the season. Having such well-structured and healthy soil also means that raised beds can typically support more individual plants that ground-level beds, so making them amenable to the permaculture principle of maximizing yield wherever possible. And it must not be forgotten that raising your garden beds makes tended, maintaining and harvesting from them, easier on the gardener, involving less bending. Thus, they are particularly valuable for older gardeners or those with restricted mobility.

You can purchase pre-fabricated raised garden beds, but they are fairly easy to construct yourself, and they can easily be made from recycled materials.

Position
You can place your raised garden bed on any surface. If placing on soil, you will need to do less work, as you will leave the bottom open for the plant roots to penetrate the soil.

However, you can also install it on grass or even concrete, as you can add layers of mulch material at the bottom to contain the growing medium. As with your normal garden beds used for cultivating food crops, you will want to position your raised beds so that they get several hours of full sun each day – to help the plants set fruit – and protected from string winds that could damage the plants or erode the soil.

Size
The size of your raised bed is likely to depend upon the materials you are able to salvage to construct it. However, it is worth remembering that, given that the garden bed will predominantly, if not entirely, be given over to plants that produce an edible yield, you want to make sure that you can reach all parts of the bed for harvesting your crops. A width of four feet is a good general rule to enable you to reach all parts of the bed, and the length can be as long as you need for your planting design. In terms of height, just remember that the higher you build your beds, the more growing medium will be needed to fill them, and tall beds can experience a lot of pressure from the material contained within, so you may need to reinforce the walls of your raised bed if building it over around two feet.

Materials
Recycled lumber is ideal for making a raised garden bed. You can buy timber, but it is a lot more expensive and much less ‘green’. Cedar is a good choice if you can source it, as it is naturally rot resistant. Whichever lumber you source, make sure that it is untreated and not painted so you are not introducing chemicals or heavy metals into your permaculture plot. You will need boards for each of the four sides of your bed, extra ones if you want to add more height, and some stakes for each of the four corners to attach the side boards to.

Construct
Construct your bed in the location where it will sit; this is a lot easier than building it elsewhere and having to move it. Screw or nail the wall boards to the four corner stakes. It is also a good idea, if you have the extra lumber, to add stakes at the middle point of the outside walls, to strengthen them. If you have long beds, add a stake every four feet or so, to help the bed contain the material within.

Fill
If your bed is over grass or concrete, add a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard, with the edges of the sheets overlapping so no gaps are left. Water this layer well before proceeding. This layer will keep weeds suppressed if on grass, and provide a base level of nutrients for the raised bed. If siting over earth, make sure the area is clear of weeds before filling (you can also add the cardboard layer, but leaving the bar earth available will encourage deep root growth). Fill the bed with good quality topsoil. Augment the soil with lots of organic matter, such as compost, composted manure, grass cuttings and leaf litter. You might also want to round your growing medium, piling it higher in the middle so it slopes to the edges, rather than having a flat bed. Rounding the soil increases the surface area, allowing you to grow more plants in the space.

Plant
Once your raised garden bed is filled, it is a good idea to plant it as soon as possible. Nature hates bare earth, and weed species will quickly raised garden bed colonize any. And at the very least bare earth is prone to erosion by wind and rain. Plant seedlings rather than seeds for the same reason. Use planting guilds and inter-planting to maximize the specimens that can be fitted into the bed, and so to maximize yield. You can also use planting to ameliorate conditions that you bed may experience due to its location. So, for instance, you can plant taller crops on the side that receives the most wind or, if in a very hot location, in a position that affords shade to smaller, more fragile plants. Water the seedlings well when they are first planted in the bed. If your plants require it, feel free to mulch the raised bed, although you are unlikely to need mulch for moisture retention, as the soil in the bed is adapted to do so. However, as with normal beds keep an eye on the dampness of the soil, and if it becomes too dry, water well.

Revitalization and job creation through sustainable community farming.

While farm to table and farm to market are seemingly popular catch phrases of the day, the truth remains that urban cities as a whole continue to decline, buildings are razed and often development focus is on city centers over the prime, tax base of the surrounding residential neighborhoods and jobs decline.

In cities like Troy the development of good paying jobs has not happened, many residents are at or below the poverty line, Lansingburgh School district is rated with over 53% of the students below. Development of diverse business base has not happened and the protection of housing stocks has not happened. Troy continues to push forward on development of new housing, catered around the city center, which has seen much revitalization in the past 10 years.

We reviewed the number of city owned properties available for sale 75% of the are vacant lots. Each lot carries a potential agriculture benefit of $1,000,000 of production a year. We are not talking livestock other than maybe a few chickens, a goat or two or even an aquaponics center, then the numbers can increase two fold, but actual fruit and vegetable production.

As a co-operative model TUFI looks to take those currently unused lots and transform them to working farms. Allowing individuals to develop and build solid urban farm businesses that will help the economy of the individual, the neighborhoods, the city and other businesses that need produce. It will redefine farm to table or farm to market to what it is meant to be, fresh inexpensive produce, eggs and fish.

Our goal is not to compete with groups like Capital Roots but help them with supplying more fresh local farm items to our residents and to incubate job creation in the world of urban farming.